The present invention relates to an electronic wristwatch with a printer function.
Electronic wristwatches display time with pointers or a digital display device and generally have other functions associated with time such as a stop watch function or a plurality of alarm functions.
Recently, electronic wristwatches have acquired other functions such as a calculation function, a schedule table preparation function, or a game function. Various information relating to those functions is displayed by an optical display device in place of the time for confirmation by a user of the wristwatch.
In an electronic wristwatch of this type, desired information can only be displayed and not recorded. In order to record such information, the user must copy it on a sheet of paper or the like.
In order to prevent this problem, the wristwatch can be provided with a printer to print desired information. However, when a printer is assembled in an electronic wristwatch, the watch inevitably becomes large and heavy, and thus become impractical.
A conventional printer uses a stepping motor or the like to move a printing head. In order to convert the rotational movement of the stepping motor into linear movement, a conversion mechanism such as a spiral bar, a belt, a wire and the like must be driven through a gear mechanism.
Printing paper must also be fed in synchronism with the movement of the printing head and the printing timing. Thus, feeding of printing paper also requires a complex gear mechanism.
When a printer is assembled in an electronic wristwatch, the wristwatch becomes large and heavy as described above. In addition, power consumption is increased, and the cell life is shortened.